1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bottle racks and, more particularly, to a rack for storing a plurality of bottles which can be displayed selectively in different positions.
2. Background Art
It is common to construct bottle racks, such as wine racks, to accommodate the largest number of bottles that one anticipates storing and/or displaying. Exemplary prior art structures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 273,647 232,284, 3,746,179, 3,870,156, 4,327,836, and British Patent Application GB 2 141 921.
The above structures nave several disadvantages. First of all, they are quite large and obtrusive. The structure shown in British Patent Application GB 2 141 921, while quite ornate and eye-catching, diverts one's attention from the displayed bottles, which is undesirable if one is attempting to show off a bottle, such as a prize bottle of wine, or the like.
Further, the racks which accommodate large number of bottles are rarely filled to capacity. The result is that the overall structure looks out of balance and may be rather unsightly.
A further problem with the above structures is that they are generally one-dimensional. For example, the wine rack shown in U.S. Pat. No. 232,284 has practical utility only when suspended from a vertical wall.
Another problem with prior art bottle racks is that they are generally quite complicated to construct. For example, the wine rack in U.S. Pat. No. 232,284 requires fairly complex forming steps, which adds considerably to the cost of manufacture. If different diameter bottles are to be accommodated, the forming process must be significantly altered.
Still further, wine racks, such as that in U.S. Pat. No. 232,284, are relatively difficult to keep clean. There are numerous nooks and crannies in which foreign matter can accumulate and which are inaccessible to one cleaning the rack.
A further problem with the prior art structures, particularly ones such as that in U.S. Pat. No. 232,284, is that often the bottles are precariously situated when in the display position on the rack. A simple shifting of the bottles may cause the bottles to fall off and break. This obviously is an inadequate structure for displaying expensive wines and the like.